My grandmother had a favorite saying which she lovingly cross stitched on to a wall hanging for me when I was in junior high school. The picture accompanying the saying is a mouse stepping gingerly onto a mouse trap to get some cheese. Being about 13 or so when grandmom gave me the wall hanging, I thought the mouse was cute and hung it in my bedroom. As I went through high school, college, work, marriage, and had children this wall hanging has moved from place to place with me. I always hung it somewhere. The mouse wasn't so cute to me as I matured but the gift was from someone dear so at some point I took the wall hanging down and stored it for safe keeping. I had not seen it for a few years and when we built our house & moved to the farm I came across this silly mouse. Needing something to hang in the laundry room I nailed a picture hook to the wall and placed the picture on it. Through all the years I had never really paid attention to the saying that my grandmom had actually put with the mouse; who I now realized was probably just trying to get dinner. I glanced at this picture the other day and realized that my grandmother was a wise woman. Through all the trials in life her favorite saying was with me. Sometimes we get so busy with the future that we don't really stop to breathe in the essence of today. We've all done it and we will all do this again and again in life we get preoccupied with the new job, or house, a wedding, a move, a new baby or some project consumes us. When we look back at the preciousness of that actual moment in our life, we draw a blank or realize we didn't savor the whole package. As we mature many of us wish we had slowed down, enjoyed those college years more, not been in such a hurry to get that big mortgage or rocked that baby a little longer. It seems as humans we are always trying to achieve something or obtain something we don't have. As I mowed grass today, I mowed around a swing set that my husband and oldest child built together. That swing has been moved, reconstructed and used for many years. I looked at it today and heard a small voice "mommy push me". How many times I had heard that over the years and how many times was I too busy to get dinner started, rush my family somewhere or even take that child in and get them ready for a nap or bed that I didn't do it long enough or sometimes at all. I thought at moments like this "boy, these are trying times" when will I get caught up or be able to to tackle whatever was the issue of the day. Today my children don't need me to push them on the swing they do need other things from me still. As I have gotten older I know how fast this thing we call time really does fly. I try to take more time to spend with my family and to enjoy the moment. The grass today smelled so good and the sun on my shoulders was amazing. It was hot; really hot. Not long ago 8 hours of mowing would have made me cranky. I am trying a little harder to live in the moment. I savored watching my son help me outside and enjoyed the silly conversation that occurred as we worked. When things get hurried or ahead of me now I stop to think. I know my grandmother's cross stitched mouse, which is hung where I see it many times a day in the laundry room is spot on. It reads "Remember these trying times will be the good old days in the years to come".
Copyright © 2011-2012 Micheline Edwards
All rights reserved to by Micheline Edwards
No comments:
Post a Comment